For want of an eye scorcher....

Treats are always given for the most arbit of reasons. But i crossed new thresholds today with a treat for a whooping 1500 bucks for a reason as simple as not wearing a tangy orange t-shirt. Well, the story begins much earlier in mumbai a week back. HLL's induction session was just winding up and we were asked to take t-shirts. I didnt need a direction to where they were kept coz there was a bright glow on the ceiling. Curiuos, i walked up to the pile and was blinded by a brilliance so pristine and blinding that i was in a haze when i picked up the t-shirt and walked out. I have done several stupid things in my life and this must perhaps rate among the best. A couple of days later back in coimbatore, when i opened my bag, i was struck by the same brilliance, the same blinding glare. Quickly grabbing a pair of coolers i investigated the source and found that the t-shirts were emitting those bright rays. It was of a luminiscent orange not very dissimilar to those radium traffic signs. Like an alien piece of equipment it was sending rays of colours that - as my friend described it - could be best described as 'retina scorchers'. The story stops there and continues about a week later in the small cafeteria in HLL's office several hundred kilometers away in bangalore.

It was a serene wednesday morning and we(the summer interns) were having a nice hot cup of cofee. As the discussion meandered it fell on the fateful topic of friday dressing. HLL allowed casual clothes on friday and i did another one of my stupid blurts then, saying perhaps we should all wear those tangy t-shirts and scare the hell out of the hll employees. I was obviously kidding but like many of my jokes this was badly interpreted and taken seriously. Aalap(a fellow IIMBian) was taken in by the idea and when we later sat in our conference room where we sat all day, an ordinance was passed! Everyone wears that tee to office on friday. He who does not wear it treats those who wear it! I was one of the earliest supporters.God!, I was on a stupidity spree!

Come friday i woke up as usual by 7 am to begin the long journey to the office. Disaster struck at 7:04 when i realised that i did not have the tee with me. Although elated on one side i realised that i was going to be the treat scapegoat. A quick flashback confirmed the worst of the fears. I remembered cursing the t-shirt and throwing it. I remembered the t-shirt splayed open some where below my desk (ya my room was horribly un-clean). I also remembered that i forgot to pick it up when i returned to bangalore. Well, the treat did happen. We caught a rick to ITPL to find a crowded pizza hut, we waited half an hour for the pizzas and had the treat. 1500 bucks for 7 people all because of a stupid t-shirt. Well 600 of that was consumed by aalap alone. Remember the name. If you ever come across it, run, dont ever treat!!

Well, the whole of pizza hut was staring at us, like zombies in bright red costumes. People on the road looked in awe at the moving red signs. Hundreds in HLL office went colour blind. Anyways, the only good thing that came out of it was that i managed to looked the sanest among the lot of bozos (a new thing in itself!) coz i was wearing a more mundane colour. A colour that does not turn heads only to scorch the cones and rods in the eye.